UPDATE, 1:13 PM:Twitter has given journalist Guy Adams his account back today. “Oh. My Twitter account seems to have been un-suspended. Did I miss much while I was away,” The Independent reporter tweeted earlier today upon his return to the social media site. Twitter told Adams in a brief email that “the complainant retract(ed) their original request.” The journalist’s Twitter account was suddenly suspended Sunday after he let loose with a series of critiques of NBC’s Olympic coverage. In one tweet Adams gave followers the business email of NBC Sports boss Gary Zenkel if they wanted to complain about the network’s tape delayed and edited coverage of the London Games. NBC filed a complaint with Twitter saying that private information about one of their executives had been revealed. NBC and Twitter have an agreement for the social media site to act as the narrator of the Games. It seems that agreement is partially what caused the suspension. “The team working closely with NBC around our Olympics partnership did proactively identify a Tweet that was in violation of our Twitter Rules and encouraged them to file a support ticket with our Trust and Safety team to report the violation, as has now been reported publicly. Our Trust and Safety team did not know that part of the story and acted on the report as they would any other,” wrote Twitter General Counsel Alex Macgillivray today. “We will actively work to ensure this does not happen again,“ he added. Today NBC said, “our interest was in protecting our executive, not suspending the user from Twitter. We didn’t initially understand the repercussions of our complaint, but now that we do, we have rescinded it.”

PREVIOUS, MONDAY AM: The Twitter account of The Independent’s Guy Adams has been suspended for slamming NBC’s coverage of the Olympics and tweeting a network executive’s email address. “We filed a complaint with Twitter because a user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives. According to Twitter, this is a violation of their privacy policy. Twitter alone levies discipline”, NBC Sports said today. Adams, who was far from alone in going after NBC on Twitter for delaying the Opening Ceremony on Friday, published a tweet Friday that contained the work email address of Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. “The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven’t started yet is Gary Zenkel Tell him what u think!” said Adams’ tweet. The LA-based Adams saw his account go down Sunday. “My colleague @guyadams’ Twitter account was suspended after @NBC complained about his tweets criticizing the network’s #Olympics coverage,” tweetedThe Independent’stech reporter Kevin Robinson today. Earlier on Friday, one of Adams’ tweets said, “I have 1000 channels on my TV. Not one will be showing the Olympics opening ceremony live. Because NBC are utter, utter bastards.”

Recent Comments

Oh how I miss abc and jim mccay. They told you a background on all our olympians....

Gord

3 years

For the love of god, learn to read. It was the corporate nbc email address that is...

rblythe

3 years

Genetic pre-dispostion? Spear chucking? Really???

NBC and Twitter announced a deal last week that the social media site would serve as the official narrator for the Summer Games. In a piece The Independentposted online Monday afternoon, Adams detailed his correspondence with Twitter’s European PR chief over his account’s suspension this weekend: “I’m of course happy to abide by Twitter’s rules, now and forever…but I don’t see how I broke them in this case: I didn’t publish a private email address. Just a corporate one, which is widely available to anyone with access to Google, and is identical [in form] to one that all of the tens of thousands of NBCUniversal employees share. It’s no more “private” than the address I’m emailing you from right now. Either way, [it’s] quite worrying that NBC, whose parent company are an Olympic sponsor, are apparently trying (and, in this case, succeeding) in shutting down the Twitter accounts of journalists who are critical of their Olympic coverage,” Adams wrote. Representatives of Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.

21 Comments

JohninLA • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

What kind of social media dunces do they have at NBCUniversal where, already aware of the fact that public opinion is largely against them, they think that suppressing criticism (via a patently flimsy reason) will somehow engender support?

The only thing with more fail than NBC’s actual coverage of the Olympics is their PR response to said failing. It’s actually quite mindboggling.

lethargic • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

1 – The guy was suspended for giving out somebody’s private email, not for complaining about the coverage.

2 – Why do we have to go through this EVERY Olympics? This is how it works. This is how it will always work. Why would NBC broadcast their biggest ratings events at 6 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon? NBC is getting record ratings and people still think they know better than they do. The facts state otherwise.

coppertopolo • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Fear not, lethargic, I predict it won’t always be this way. Here’s my scenerio:
Right now – 2012, NBC can get away with this because the bulk of the audience watching nighttime may not be that computer savvy, so they don’t seek out the results online or streaming during the actual event. But the time will come when the nighttime audience of ‘non-techies’ will dry up and the majority of the audience will watch events live – no one will need Prime Time viewing.
So watch out NBC – your strategy NOW, will come back to bite you in the A** – and it won’t take long – probably by 2020 – no network will have the Olympic’s audience by the b***s.

sally • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

You are so right. I’m a woefully out of date technophobe, but I found NBC’s Olympics coverage so frustrating, in terms of delays and content, that I took the time to seek out a BBC stream and figured out how to get it from my computer to my TV. Now I’m thinking of giving up my cable subscription altogether.

The final straw was trying to watch NBC’s online live stream. Technical glitches and commercials galore.

guy • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Nope. It is listed as a corporate contact email, so #1 is false.

sally • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

1) It’s a corporate email address available on the NBC site, not his personal account.

2) I wish I had it to complain about NBC’s failing internet live stream (which as a cable subscriber I’m paying for) because the contact form they provide on the site does not work.

3) As a west coaster and cable subscriber, I’m not that demanding. I’m used to 3 hour delays of live shows and paying for what I want to see. But the Olympics are not just any live event, the delays are longer than the time difference between L.A. and the UK (even on the weekends), the online stream is faulty and riddled with ads, and they don’t offer any pay options to watch live and commercial free.

NotQuiteRight • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Unlisted work email =/= private email. This issue was brought up last night with Twitter and NBC, which is why the backstep happened this morning. They knew they were in for a PR nightmare they couldn’t justify, so they did a quick “whoops, sorry, our bad.”

Shameful, just shameful.

Stephanie Harris • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Regarding the coverage of the equestrian events – today while watching the cross country event that stupid logo was flashed on over horse and rider so many times it had me cursing by the end of the event. Tell the person with the logo button to not push it when events are being actively broadcast – it is very annoying and completely unnecessary.

How much you wanna bet that Zenkel is more than happy to put the email address Adams mentioned above in NBC happy talk press releases to journalists so that the Nothing But Crap network can maximize its media pimpage (and of what little I’ve seen of the Games because I detest commercialized sports, there’s very little actual athletics to watch but a boatload of commercials, trumped-up human interest pieces and general weirdness)?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how most email addresses at a big media corporation are assigned (look at the bottom of any press release for hints). And since I don’t think Zenkel can prove he lives in his office (so many of the unemployed/underemployed people the Peacock Network has let go would probably kill for digs like that now), I think Twitter f’ed this one up big time.

If Twitter wants to come get my account for piling on, just let em try. Besides I’ve got a Diaspora account now for real socializing so who needs corporate sellouts like Twitter & FaceBook now?

By the way, the ‘trying to stamp out fan criticism online’ dates back to at least the 07-08 WGA strike. All it does is make fans flee Big Media and go to smaller sites for their amusement (I love Web TV and I’m happy to build direct relationships with ‘content creators’ including paying them myself with money Big Media used to get from me, until I learned how much contempt Big Media really has for me about 5 years ago AND STOPPED GIVING THEM MY MONEY!). But bagging on a critical journalist is in my opinion the height of self-defeating.

If anyone knows Guy Adams, I’d be happy to get him a Diaspora account where the corporate shills don’t outnumber the real users :)

Justified • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

NBC’s decision to air events during prime time, hours after the competitions have occured, would not be frustrating to viewers if local news and internet sources were not already posting and reporting the results hours beforehand. I would have been more inclined to watch Ryan Lochte win his first gold on Saturday and beat Michael Phelps had I not already known the results hours beforehand. Or that Jordyn Wieber had not qualified for the All Around. Nobody enjoys reading a mystery novel when they already know the ending.

nnvnv • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

who gives a shit?
why you want to watch this corporate freak show anyway?
or post your inane shit about it in 140 characters or less for tat matter.
we are facing the most difficult time in human history, global ecological disaster, financial war, population explosion, nuclear disaster and we are all still celebrating the fact that some of us have a genetic predisposition to be able to run fast or chuck a *&^£ing spear- a skill that became pointless many,many years ago when we killed off all our predators.
now if we could resurrect the games roman style and feed the bankers one by one to a ravenous usain bolt in a big arena – id buy tickets to that!

rblythe • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Genetic pre-dispostion? Spear chucking? Really???

Ed Meiller • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Oh to be in Canada now that the Olympics are here. Live coverage all day on CTV and related sports stations. I don’t know why NBC can’t do that…oh wait…night time ratings are more important than day time ratings.

TJ • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

With Ebersol gone, I predict that NBC will let the next Olympics go by. They spend millions upon millions for the broadcast rights, and hire an army of crew and equipment.
And they never make a profit on it.
You cant even get gratitude.
Why bother?

Template • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Primetime Coverage goes something like this:

8:00pm – Announcer – “Coming up, Gymnastics and Swimming but first…”

8:00 – 9:00 pm – Judo

9:00 – Announcer – “Let’s head over to the pool where Michael Phelps is going head to head against Ryan Lochte for an epic race!”

9:00-9:05 – It’s actually a qualifying heat for a race that has nothing to do with Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte.

9:05 – Announcer – “Let’s head over to the Gymnastics arena where the women are in a Head to Head battle with the Russians. But first…”

9:05 10:45 – Water polo

10:45 – 11:00pm – Meredith Vieira and Ryan Seacrest explain the history of bubble gum and how competitor X’s father’s best friend’s brother used to make the bubble gum that inspired competitor X

11:00pm – Announcer – “Let’s head back to the Aquatic Center where Michael Phelps is…”

XX • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Also, must replace Judo and Water Polo, which would never be shown on Prime Time, with Women’s Beach Volleyball, six hours’ late.

Androme • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

“Partially”? Some goof gave out some other guy’s personal information for all the world to see on Twitter. That is basically the main reason he had his acoount susoended.
And he should be happy to have it reinstated.
“Partially” my ass.

Gord • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

For the love of god, learn to read. It was the corporate nbc email address that is on the website. Not personal. Twitter is selling out.

jef • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Spike Lee wrongfully tweets the home address of a couple in the Travon tragedy, in hopes that a mob goes and hurts who he deems as guilty, yet Twitter does nothing?! Is this the way of the new media world?

ralph • on Jul 31, 2012 1:14 pm

Oh how I miss abc and jim mccay. They told you a background on all our olympians. Nbc did not even do this even while covering the events unless they were in the top ten. All of our athletes are deserving of coverage. Also, it seems we are going toward thongs. It is not appropiate the way some outfits are cut.